The present invention relates to planting devices and, more particularly, to hand-held seed planters for rapidly planting seeds of different size at predetermined depths below the surface of the soil.
Seed planters, sometimes termed seed drills, have been used for mechanized planting operations on farms and other relatively large scale agricultural developments. Few alternatives to such seed drills have been available for use in gardens; typically such planting has been done by hand. This is a slow, tiring process and requires a great deal of bending and stooping.
One known hand-held planting device includes a pair of ground engaging members which are hinged together and which have handles at their upper ends. A pair of flexible partitions extend between the hinged members and a seed hopper is mounted outwardly on one of the hinged members. The members have a pair of blades at their lower ends which open as the members are pivoted and which are used to form a seed hole in the ground. As the members are pivoted outwardly, a small scoop mechanism drops one of the seeds from the seed hopper into the space between the members and the flexible partitions and the seed falls downwardly into the hole which is opened in the soil by the blades. This prior art device required both a downward motion and an outward pivoting of the handles in order to create the opening in the soil and to plant the seed therein. This motion is somewhat tiring, and further, requires the use of both hands. Additionally, the scoop mechanism which is used to drop seeds into the soil was of fixed size and, therefore, did not work well with seeds of varying size. This device also tended to be relatively heavy and thus tiresome to operate.
It is seen that a need exists, therefore, to provide a hand-held seed planting device which is light, which requires only a downward force on its upper end to plant a seed, and further, which may be used with seeds of various sizes.